“All a writer has to do to get a woman is to say he’s a writer. It’s an aphrodisiac.”

‘Everybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door.”

~Saul Bellow

Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellow reads his fiction

Saul Bellow Interview

Christopher Hitchens on Saul Bellow

Zachary Leader, “The Life of Saul Bellow”

Saul Bellow’s Heart: A Son’s Memoir

Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow (10 June 1915 – 5 April 2005) was a Canadian-born American writer. For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only writer to win the National Book Award for Fiction three times and he received the Foundation’s lifetime Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 1990.
In the words of the Swedish Nobel Committee, his writing exhibited “the mixture of rich picaresque novel and subtle analysis of our culture, of entertaining adventure, drastic and tragic episodes in quick succession interspersed with philosophic conversation, all developed by a commentator with a witty tongue and penetrating insight into the outer and inner complications that drive us to act, or prevent us from acting, and that can be called the dilemma of our age.” His best-known works include The Adventures of Augie March, Henderson the Rain King, Herzog, Mr. Sammler’s Planet, Seize the Day, Humboldt’s Gift and Ravelstein. Widely regarded as one of the 20th century’s greatest authors, Bellow has had a “huge literary influence.”

“You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.”

THERE WERE TIMES READING IT WHEN I HAD TO PUT IT DOWN TO COLLECT MYSELF BEFORE PICKING IT UP AGAIN.”

JIMMY BUFFETT – “THE MOST EFFECTIVE, EXCITING, BIZARRE TALE POSSIBLE. IN TOYER,MCKAY HAS GIVEN US AN ARRAY OF VICTIMS WHO FALL INTO THE VENUS FLYTRAP OF A VILLAIN AS CUNNING AS RICHARD III AND A MANIACAL AS HANNIBAL LECTER.”

JAMES CAMERON –“TOYER IS A NOVEL WHERE LOS ANGELES STARS AS ITSELF, THE CITY OF MASKS, WHERE RELATIONSHIPS PEEL THE ONION OF DARK REVELATION, AS TWO ADVERSARIES COUPLE IN A SEDUCTIVE DEATH-LOCK. GARDNER MCKAY HAS WOVEN A CHILLING AND DISTURBING DESCENT INTO THE CATACOMBS OF THE MIND.”

LEON BING –“WHOEVER PICKS UP GARDNER MCKAY’S NOVEL, TOYER, WILL KNOW, EARLY ON, THAT A MASTER HAS LAID HANDS ON THEM. THIS IS A BOOK OF SUCH SHEER, BRUTAL BRILLIANCE THAT THE READER OFTEN FEELS LIKE A PASSENGER TRAPPED ON A RUNAWAY TRAIN RACKETING ALONG A DOWNHILL TRACK.

MR. MCKAY IS A SUPERBLY ACCOMPLISHED WRITER; NOT SINCE HANNIBAL LECTER HAS THERE BEEN A LITERARY CHARACTER OF SUCH SILKEN AND ABSOLUTE MENACE AS TOYER.” –

THE NEW YORK TIMES – ”Connoisseurs – will appreciate the gorgeous imagery of McKay’s novel – the bizarre beauty of his writing.”

LOS ANGELES TIMES – “Anyone should make a beeline for McKay’s novel.”

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICAL – “FIRST RATE.”

HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN, JOHN BERGER – “Almost impossible to put down. Read it once for the story. Read it at least twice more for the writing.”

LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE – BOOK PICK OF THE MONTH –”Reminiscent of the best of classical L.A.noir – chilling.”

BOSTON GLOBE – “As bad as this title is as good as this book is. Slick, sensitive, brilliant.”

HONOLULU ADVERTISER, WANDA ADAMS –“ Insightful writing, unexpected plot, arresting asides, delicious evocations, and its unique take on a very much tried formula. [ I will ] read it again.”

Gardner McKay – Actor, Writer, Icon

Adventures in Paradise a Tribute to Gardner Mckay in photos

TOYER – Annabel & Andrew scene

“Toyer” by Gardner McKay

“Toyer” by Gardner McKay. Directed by Jon Gonzalez. Here’s a short play I directed. Starring Laya Hernandez and Zebastian Duchene.

Gardner McKay

Adventures in Paradise – Isle of Eden

An extract of the episode “Isle of Eden” of the “Adventures of Paradise” TV series, broadcasted on ABC TV in the USA on February 22nd 1960. Starring Gardner McKay, as Adam Troy, captain of the “Tiki, and as guest stars Yvonne De Carlo and Hugo Haas.

Sea Marks by Gardner McKay at The Irish Repertory Theatre

Adventures In Paradise Somewhere South of Suva part 2 Gardner Mckay 1960

Biography

George Cadogan Gardner McKay was born in Manhattan, New York City, his early years were spent in France, Connecticut and Kentucky. He attended Cornell University where he edited the humor magazine, wrote a film review column for the paper, was briefly president of his class and rowed on their crew.

At age fifteen, he published his first story. His novel Toyer won critical acclaim upon its release in 1998 and is currently in pre-production for a major motion film.

He has been awarded several prizes for his writing:- The Drama Critics Award for playwriting, The Sydney Carrington Prize. He won three National Endowment for the Arts grants for playwriting. Five of his play have been published by Samuel French Publishing Company, New York, Los Angeles, London: Sea Marks, Masters of the Sea, Toyer, Me, In Order of Appearance. His plays have been, and continue to be, produced in every state in the union and internationally.

Sea Marks won the National Regional Theatre Award in Canada. The Drama Critics Circle Award, best play of the year. And has been produced in NYC in six Off-Broadway productions; the Players Theatre (“Best Off- Broadway Play, Walter Kerr, New York Times) the Manhattan Theatre Club, and other theatres. It has been presented at the Eisenhower Theatre, The Kennedy Center in Washington D. C. The Edinburgh Festival and The Pitlochry Festival, Scotland. It has also been broadcast on B.B.C. Radio Theatre, London.

McKay’s play Toyer was first staged at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. – starring Kathleen Turner and Brad Davis, directed by, Tony Richardson. It has also been produced by Michael White in England – starring Rupert Graves, and later in London’s West End.

Other plays of his – in random order- of various lengths that have been produced are: – Untold Damage (PBS) Written and directed by Mr. McKay for PBS starring Richard Dreyfuss, Geraldine Fitzgerald, tracy Swope, Josh Bryant. It was cited as the best television production by the Television Theatre. Narcissa-Narcissus, Tapes, The Girl Next Door is Screaming, The Suit, The Visitor, Meeting, Silver Eyes, The Honeyman, Yeats/Millay, Becker, The People we Kill, Alligators Have no Choice.

He was Drama critic and Drama editor for the Los Angeles Herald Tribune. During the time he was with the Herald he invented a method of review called the “Triple Review” three brief reviews of the same play by three writers. The lone newspaper’s “Voice of the Critic” was hushed for these reviews and, instead, the review became an argument of the play’s worth on the forum of its pages.

He has taught playwriting at U.C.L.A at his Playwriting Roundtable. Later he taught playwriting and screenwriting at University of Southern California, Juneau Alaska, and the University of Hawaii.

During the ’70 and ‘80s he started a small professional group called the Playwrights’ Exchange. He personally constructed a 50-seat theatre off the kitchen of his L.A. house and every Tuesday playwrights gathered to see new work being read in whole or in fragments by professional actors. The theatre was named The Free Theatre, mainly because no money changed hands; emblematic of playwriting.

From 1995 – until his death in November 2001, Gardner wrote and recorded stories for his weekly radio show “Stories on the Wind” which aired each Sunday.

McKay has also been a sculptor ( several of his works are in the Museum of Modern Art, NYC and the Whitney Museum.) He has been a professional skipper, photographer, actor (Adventures in Paradise, Boots and Saddles), and has raised African lions.

McKay was under contract to MGM when he was spotted by Dominick Dunne, then a television producer for Twentieth Century Fox, who was searching for an actor to star in his planned Adventures in Paradise. Dunne put his business card on the table and said, “If you’re interested in discussing a television series, call me.” McKay competed in screen tests with nine other candidates, and won it because of his good looks and ability to sail. An accomplished sailor, he had made eight Atlantic crossings by the age of seventeen. Although previously unknown to the public, McKay appeared on the July 6, 1959, cover of Life Magazine just two months before the series premiered.

McKay’s awards included three National Endowment for the Arts fellowships for playwriting, the Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, and Sidney Carrington Prize. He was a winner in Canadian Regional Drama Festival, and runner-up in the Hemingway Short Story Contest.

Last years

McKay settled in Hawaii, where he died from prostate cancer in 2001, at the age of sixty-nine. He was survived by his wife, Madeleine Madigan, a painter, and two children.

External links

Brian De Palma Toys With Toyer Again

By Claude Brodesser-Akner

Six years ago, reports surfaced that Brian De Palma would next be directing the diabolical Gardner McKay novel and stage play Toyer, which follows a “serial lunatic.” The Toyer doesn’t murder or rape his beautiful female victims, he “toys” with them, torturing them psychologically, then puttting them into a medically induced coma. (Sort of like what De Palma did to audiences in Snake Eyes … We kid, Brian!)

Anyway, without a capital crime to prosecute, the police and D.A. can only charge the Toyer with “mayhem,” and as they’re overwhelmed with hundreds of uncleared murder cases, the Toyer case becomes a lower priority. So a female neurologist who treats Toyer’s victims teams up with a newspaper editor to draw him out and bring him to justice.

This time, we’re told, Toyer really is happening, but as an indie financed via producers Tarak Ben Ammar, (who most famously produced Franco Zefferilli’s La Traviata) and the L.A.-based Scott Steindorff. Steindorff has brought heavyweight literature like Philip Roth’s The Human Stain and Gabriel García Márquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera to the screen, and tells Vulture that the film will be shooting in Venice, Italy, late this fall and into the early winter.

That’s a switch from the Gardner version, which is set in L.A., but should be far creepier: De Palma plans to set the mayhem against Venice’s famous Carnevale di Venezia, for which elaborate masks disguising one’s identity are traditionally worn on the street from St. Stephen’s Day (the day after Christmas) until the start of the Venitian Carnival (two weeks before Ash Wednesday). Steindorff says shooting during the actual Carnival (during February and March) would be logistically impossible. They plan to re-create their own Carnival on location.

“It has all the elements of suspense that Brian does so well in films likeBlow Out and Carrie,” Steindorff says, adding, “And by that I mean, it’s really frickin’ scary: I read the script on a plane, and I was still terrified.”

The 10 Greatest Books Ever, According to 125 Top Authors (Download Them for Free)

Earlier this month, we highlighted The 10 Greatest Films of All Time According to 846 Film Critics. Featuring films by Hitchcock, Kubrick, Welles and Fellini, this master list came together in 2012 when Sight & Sound(the cinema journal of the British Film Institute) asked contemporary critics and directors to name their 12 favorite movies. Nearly 900 cinephiles responded, and, from those submissions, a meta list of 10 was culled.

So how about something similar for books, you ask? For that, we can look back to 2007, when J. Peder Zane, the book editor of the Raleigh News & Observer, asked 125 top writers to name their favorite books — writers like Norman Mailer, Annie Proulx, Stephen King, Jonathan Franzen, Claire Messud, and Michael Chabon. The lists were all compiled in an edited collection, The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books, and then prefaced by one uber list, “The Top Top Ten.”

Zane explained the methodology behind the uber list as follows: “The participants could pick any work, by any writer, by any time period…. After awarding ten points to each first-place pick, nine to second-place picks, and so on, the results were tabulated to create the Top Top Ten List – the very best of the best.”

The short list appears below, along with links to electronic versions of the works. There’s one notable exception, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. We couldn’t provide that text, but we do have something special — an audio recording of Nabokov reading a chapter from his controversial 1955 novel.

The texts listed below are permanently housed in our collection of Free eBooks, along with many other classics. In many cases, you’ll find audio versions of the same works in our ever-growing collection of Free Audio Books. If you have questions about how to load files onto your Kindle, please see this related instructional video.

Got an issue with any of the selections? Tell us all about it in the comments section below.

Friday Reads: November 14, 2014 + Break

Review: Anthem by Ayn Rand

Q&A Part 1: Books and Booktube

“Reading is the nourishment that lets you do interesting work,” Jennifer Egan once said. This intersection of reading and writing is both a necessary bi-directional life skill for us mere mortals and a secret of iconic writers’ success, as bespoken by their personal libraries. The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books asks 125 of modernity’s greatest British and American writers — including Norman Mailer, Ann Patchett,Jonathan Franzen, Claire Messud, andJoyce Carol Oates — “to provide a list, ranked, in order, of what [they] consider the ten greatest works of fiction of all time– novels, story collections, plays, or poems.”

Of the 544 separate titles selected, each is assigned a reverse-order point value based on the number position at which it appears on any list — so, a book that tops a list at number one receives 10 points, and a book that graces the bottom, at number ten, receives 1 point.

In introducing the lists, David Orr offers a litmus test for greatness:

If you’re putting together a list of ‘the greatest books,’ you’ll want to do two things: (1) out of kindness, avoid anyone working on a novel; and (2) decide what the word ‘great’ means. The first part is easy, but how about the second? A short list of possible definitions of ‘greatness’ might look like this:

1. ‘Great’ means ‘books that have been greatest for me.’
2. ‘Great’ means ‘books that would be considered great by the most people over time.’
3. ‘Great’ has nothing to do with you or me — or people at all. It involves transcendental concepts like God or the Sublime.
4. ‘Great’? I like Tom Clancy.

The book concludes with an appendix of “literary number games” summing up some patterns and constructing several overall rankings based on the totality of the different authors’ picks. Among them (*with links to free public domain works where available):

As a nonfiction loyalist, I’d love a similar anthology of nonfiction favorites — then again, famous writers might wave a knowing finger and point me to the complex relationship between truth and fiction.

Frank Sinatra-New York,New York

Start spreadin’ the news, I’m leavin’ today
I want to be a part of it
New York, New York
These vagabond shoes, are longing to stray
Right through the very heart of it
New York, New YorkI want to wake up, in a city that never sleeps
And find I’m king of the hill
Top of the heapThese little town blues, are melting awayEbola Theme Song — New York, New York
I’ll make a brand new start of it
In old New York
If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere
It’s up to you, New York..New YorkNew York…New York
I want to wake up, in a city that never sleeps
And find I’m A number one, top of the list
King of the hill, A number one….These little town blues, are melting away
I’ll make a brand new start of it
In old New York
If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere
It’s up to you, New York..New York New York!!!

Frank Sinatra – New York New York Song **Lyrics** [HD]

Frank Sinatra, My Way, With Lyrics

“My Way”

And now, the end is here
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I traveled each and ev’ry highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my wayRegrets, I’ve had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this, I did it my wayYes, there were times, I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my wayI’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
I’ve had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way,
“Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my way”For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels and not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows and did it my way![instrumental]Yes, it was my way

Frank Sinatra – “It Was A Very Good Year”

“It Was A Very Good Year”

[spoken intro:]
Here’s an awfully pretty folk songWhen I was seventeen it was a very good year
It was a very good year for small town girls and soft summer nights
We’d hide from the lights on the village green
When I was seventeen[brief instrumental]When I was twenty-one it was a very good year
It was a very good year for city girls who lived up the stair
With all that perfumed hair and it came undone
When I was twenty-one[brief instrumental]Then I was thirty-five it was a very good year
It was a very good year for blue-blooded girls
Of independent means, we’d ride in limousines their chauffeurs would drive
When I was thirty-five[brief instrumental]But now the days grow short, I’m in the autumn of the year
And now I think of my life as vintage wine from fine old kegs
From the brim to the dregs, and it poured sweet and clear
It was a very good year[brief instrumental]It was a mess of good years

Frank Sinatra – It Was A Very Good Year Medley Mix – Live

CHICAGO My Kind Of Town – Frank Sinatra

“My Kind Of Town”

Now this could only happen to a guy like me
And only happen in a town like this
So may I say to each of you most gratef’lly
As I throw each one of you a kissThis is my kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of people, too
People who smile at youAnd each time I roam, Chicago is
Calling me home, Chicago is
Why I just grin like a clown
It’s my kind of town[brief instrumental]My kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of town, Chicago is
My kind of razzmatazz
And it has all that jazzAnd each time I leave, Chicago is
Tuggin’ my sleeve, Chicago is
The Wrigley Building, Chicago is
The Union Stockyard, Chicago is
One town that won’t let you down
It’s my kind of town

Procol Harum – A Whiter Shade Of Pale (Live at the Union Chapel)

Joe Cocker – A Whiter Shade Of Pale (LIVE in Berlin) HD

Willie Nelson – A Whiter Shade Of Pale – 1982

Annie Lennox – A Whiter Shade of Pale (Remastered)

ANNIE LENNOX – A Whiter Shade of Pale (Senza Luce)

Whiter Shade of Pale – Annie Lennox

A Whiter Shade of Pale – Sarah Brightman

David Lanz – A Whiter Shade of Pale

We skipped the light fandango
turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor
I was feeling kinda seasick
but the crowd called out for more
The room was humming harder
as the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
the waiter brought a tray

And so it was that later
as the miller told his tale
that her face, at first just ghostly,
turned a whiter shade of pale

She said, ‘There is no reason
and the truth is plain to see.’
But I wandered through my playing cards
and would not let her be
one of sixteen vestal virgins
who were leaving for the coast
and although my eyes were open
they might have just as well’ve been closed

She said, ‘I’m home on shore leave,’
though in truth we were at sea
so I took her by the looking glass
and forced her to agree
saying, ‘You must be the mermaid
who took Neptune for a ride.’
But she smiled at me so sadly
that my anger straightway died

If music be the food of love [see note, left, about this verse + its opening]
then laughter is its queen
and likewise if behind is in front
then dirt in truth is clean
My mouth by then like cardboard
seemed to slip straight through my head
So we crash-dived straightway quickly
and attacked the ocean bed

“Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson reinstated

A & E lifts suspension on ‘Duck Dynasty’

‘This Week’ Roundtable: ‘Duck Dynasty’ Debate

‘Duck Dynasty’ Reversal Shows GLAAD Has an Expiration Date

A few years ago, I couldn’t imagine a network disregarding GLAAD’s recommendations

By Brandon Ambrosino

Phil v. The Gays. With which will we side? Or rather, against which will we side? This is the question that society demands we answer. Are we anti-Phil or anti-gay or anti-GLAAD or anti-A&E or anti- … ?

Perhaps no other word sums up the Duck Dynasty fiasco as aptly as the word “anti.”

Whenever I hear that someone is anti-this or that, I immediately think of the old quip about MADD – are there any mothers for drunk driving? – and ask myself if anyone is really in favor of the particular thing being protested. Since GLAAD has recently taken a hard-line stance against Phil Robertson’s “anti-gay” comments, I’ve been asking myself a similar question about defamation: Who among us is for it? Most of us are decidedly against defamation, although we choose not to publicly participate in institutional demonstrations to prove how against it we are. But, of course, GLAAD is an institution, and therefore their criticism reverberates at systemic levels.

Founded in 1985 in the wake of the AIDS crisis, GLAAD was formed to protest skewed coverage of LGBT issues and “to put pressure on media organizations to end homophobic reporting.” The original name was an acronym for “Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation,” and although the organization has recently rebranded itself by deciding that the letters G-L-A-A-D aren’t actually going to stand for anything any more, their reputation for protesting defamatory speech is well known both within and without the LGBT community.

It goes without saying that GLAAD has done a great deal of good for the LGBT community, and for that they deserve our applause and honor. As they noted in their announcement heralding their name change, their work continues to educate and influence the greater culture. Historically they’ve been a symbol of inclusion and tolerance, and they’ve worked tirelessly to infuse these values into our controlling media discourses. Frankly, though, I don’t think their hasty reaction to Phil Robertson displayed our LGBT community’s best values.

Before many of us even learned that Phil Robertson was interviewed by GQ, GLAAD had already convinced us that Phil’s words were vile and offensive, and called upon A&E “to re-examine their ties to someone with such public disdain for LGBT people and families.” (I still wonder how many of us – commentators included – have read the actual story in GQ.) A&E offered its own kneejerk response to GLAAD’s kneejerk response, and placed Phil on “indefinite” hiatus, which then prompted some Evangelicals to offer up their own kneejerk response which had something to do with the freedom of speech and now – did I hear this correctly? – Chick-fil-A. In the end, after carefully reviewing all of the responses, A&E issued a final response explaining their decision to lift Phil’s suspension, which resulted in yet another predictable response from GLAAD. I’m not sure how we do it, but we manage to craft responses to our opponents without ever having actual conversations with them.

It isn’t shocking that a conservative Christian duck-hunter from Louisiana has opinions that GLAAD deemed “anti-gay,” and it isn’t shocking that A&E immediately kowtowed to GLAAD at the first drop of the word “homophobic.” What is shocking, however, is that A&E lifted Phil’s hiatus in spite of the fact that they knew GLAAD wasn’t going to be happy about it. A few years ago, I couldn’t imagine a network disregarding GLAAD’s recommendations. A&E is certainly setting a precedent – which makes me wonder about where we are today with queer politics.

In the ’80s and ’90s, GLAAD was necessary, if only because top media outlets needed to be reminded that journalistic ethics applied to AIDS coverage, too. But in 2014, how necessary is GLAAD? I don’t mean to suggest that the organization isn’t doing some good for our world – as I’ve already noted, they are! But as America edges closer and closer to unqualified and full inclusion of LGBT persons, I wonder if an organization whose raison d’etre is to find and shame instances of discrimination isn’t just a bit archaic.

If our goal is to progress beyond defamation against LGBT persons, then that means GLAAD has a sell-by date. To put it in a different, albeit cheekier way: Defamation is good for GLAAD’s business. To bankrupt our society of LGBT defamation would certainly put GLAAD out of work. It’s hard for me to imagine I’m the only one who’s wondered about this. In fact, GLAAD’s recent name-change only confirms that their leadership has been reexamining and revising their purposes moving forward. Again, I’m not suggesting our world doesn’t need GLAAD: There certainly is a place for them. But A&E’s latest reversal should make us question what exactly that place is.http://ideas.time.com/2013/12/28/duck-dynasty-reversal-shows-glaad-has-an-expiration-date/

Duck Dynasty: Unknown Facts About The Robertsons

The Best of Uncle Si

Duck Dynasty : Si Struck

Duck Dynasty: Si’s New Toy

Duck Dynasty: Si’s Dating Tips

Duck Dynasty : Hey

Uncle Si Robertson “ICY STARE” HILARIOUS DUCK DYNASTY ( 720P HD )

Duck Commanders Phil and Willie Robertson Interview – CONAN on TBS

The Robertson’s of Duck Dynasty Talk About How Their Faith in Jesus Turned Around Their Lives!!

Duck Commander Phil Robertson Talks About Why This Country Needs More Jesus

Duck Commander Phil Robertson from Duck Dynasty spoke to the congregation of Saddleback church in July on why people need Jesus and why the founders would agree — and I gotta say it was awesome. I watched it last night and knew I had to post it for you guys. Duck Commander’s message is really simple, that people need to love God and love each other and he delivers it beautifully. He really is a fantastic preacher.

‘Duck Dynasty’ star: Homosexuality wrong

‘Duck Dynasty’ Star Makes Shocking ‘Gay is Sin’ Comment

Duck Dynasty dared to mention Jesus

‘Duck Dynasty’ star slammed over anti-gay rant

By Andrea Morabito

Phil Robertson, patriarch of the “Duck Dynasty” clan, is being slammed for controversial comments he made about homosexuality in an interview in the January issue of GQ.

“It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me,” Robertson told the magazine. “I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.”

When the reporter asked Robertson what he found sinful, he said “Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men.”

The self-proclaimed Bible-thumper then went on to paraphrase Corinthians: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”

On Wednesday, GLAAD called Robertson’s statements “vile” and “littered with outdated stereotypes.”

“Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil’s lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe,” said GLAAD spokesperson Wilson Cruz. “He clearly knows nothing about gay people or the majority of Louisianans — and Americans — who support legal recognition for loving and committed gay and lesbian couples.

“Phil’s decision to push vile and extreme stereotypes is a stain on A&E and his sponsors who now need to reexamine their ties to someone with such public disdain for LGBT people and families.”

An A&E spokesman had no comment, but Robertson released his own statement responding to the controversy.

“I myself am a product of the 60s; I centered my life around sex, drugs and rock and roll until I hit rock bottom and accepted Jesus as my Savior,” he said. “My mission today is to go forth and tell people about why I follow Christ and also what the Bible teaches, and part of that teaching is that women and men are meant to be together.

“However, I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.”

“Duck Dynasty” has been a ratings phenomenon for A&E, drawing 11.8 million viewers to its fourth season premiere last August, the most-watched nonfiction series telecast in cable history.

Croce released his first album, Facets, in 1966, with 500 copies pressed. The album had been financed with a $500 wedding gift from Croce’s parents, who set a condition that the money must be spent to make an album. They hoped that he would give up music after the album failed, and use his college education to pursue a “respectable” profession.[9] However, the album proved a success, with every copy sold.

1960s

From the mid-1960s to early 1970s, Croce performed with his wife as a duo. At first, their performances included songs by artists such as Ian and Sylvia, Gordon Lightfoot, Joan Baez, and Woody Guthrie, but in time they began writing their own music. During this time, Croce got his first long-term gig at a rural bar and steak house in Lima, Pennsylvania, called The Riddle Paddock. His set list covered several genres, including blues, country, rock and roll, and folk.

Croce married his wife Ingrid in 1966, and converted to Judaism, as his wife was Jewish, though he became non-practicing and was generally anti-organized religion. He and Ingrid were married in a traditional Jewish ceremony.[10] He enlisted in the Army National Guard that same year to avoid being drafted and deployed to Vietnam, and served on active duty for four months, leaving for duty a week after his honeymoon.[11] Croce, who was not good with authority, had to go through basic training twice.[12] He said he would be prepared if “there’s ever a war where we have to defend ourselves with mops”.

In 1968, the Croces were encouraged by record producer Tommy West to move to New York City. The couple spent time in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx and recorded their first album with Capitol Records. During the next two years, they drove more than 300,000 miles,[13] playing small clubs and concerts on the college concert circuit promoting their album Jim & Ingrid Croce.

Becoming disillusioned by the music business and New York City, they sold all but one guitar to pay the rent and returned to the Pennsylvania countryside, settling in an old farm in Lyndell, where Croce got a job driving trucks and doing construction work to pay the bills while continuing to write songs, often about the characters he would meet at the local bars and truck stops and his experiences at work; these provided the material for such songs as “Big Wheels” and “Workin’ at the Car Wash Blues“.

1970s

The couple returned to Philadelphia and Croce decided to be “serious” about becoming a productive member of society. “I’d worked construction crews, and I’d been a welder while I was in college. But I’d rather do other things than get burned,” he later said. His determination to be “serious” led to a job at a Philadelphia R&B AM radio station, WHAT, where he translated commercials into “soul”. “I’d sell airtime to Bronco’s Poolroom and then write the spot: “You wanna be cool, and you wanna shoot pool… dig it.”

In 1970, Croce met the classically trained pianist-guitarist and singer-songwriter Maury Muehleisen from Trenton, New Jersey through producer Joe Salviuolo. Salviuolo had been friends with Croce when they attended Villanova University together, and Salviuolo later discovered Muehleisen when he was teaching at Glassboro State College in New Jersey. Salviuolo brought the Croce and Muehleisen duo together at the production office of Tommy West and Terry Cashman in New York City. Initially, Croce backed Muehleisen on guitar at his gigs but in time their roles reversed, with Muehleisen adding lead guitar to Croce’s music.

As his career picked up, Croce began touring the United States with Muehleisen, performing live, including in large coffee houses, on college campuses, and at folk festivals. However, Croce’s financial situation was still dire. The record company had fronted him the money to record the album, and much of the money the album earned went back to pay the advance. In February 1973, Croce and Muehleisen traveled to Europe to promote the album, visiting London, Paris, and Amsterdam, and getting positive reviews. Croce also began appearing on television, including onDon Kirshner’s Rock Concert and The Midnight Special, which he co-hosted. In July 1973, Croce and Muehleisen again visited London and performed on The Old Grey Whistle Test. Croce finished recording the album I Got a Name one week before his death. During his tours, Croce grew increasingly homesick, and decided to take a break from music and settle down with his wife and infant son after his Life and Times tour was completed.[14][15] In a letter to his wife which arrived after his death, Croce stated his intention to quit music and stick to writing short stories and movie scripts as a career, and withdraw from public life.[16][17]

An investigation showed that the plane crashed on take off after clipping a pecan tree at the end of the runway. The plane failed to gain enough altitude to clear the tree and did not maneuver to avoid it, even though it was the only tree for hundreds of yards. It was reported as dark, but with clear sky, calm winds, and over five miles of visibility with haze. The report from the NTSB[20] listed the probable cause as the pilot’s failure to see and avoid obstructions due to pilot physical impairment and fog obstructing vision. The 57-year-old charter pilot suffered from severe coronary artery disease and had run three miles to the airport from a motel. He had an ATP Certificate, 14,290 hours total flight time and 2,190 hours in the Beech 18 type.[20] A later investigation placed sole blame for the accident on pilot error due to his downwind takeoff into a “black hole”.[21]

The Croces’ son Adrian James (born September 28, 1971) is a singer-songwriter, musician, and pianist, and he owns and operates his own record label, Seedling Records.[26]

From 1985 to 2013 Ingrid Croce owned and managed Croce’s Restaurant & Jazz Bar—a project she and Croce had jokingly discussed a decade earlier—in the historic Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego.[27] On July 3, 2012, she published a memoir about her husband, entitled I Got a Name: The Jim Croce Story.[28]

Tweeting

For most of history, “tweet” has been the sound a bird makes. However, with the advent of Twitter, the word “tweet” has taken on a whole new meaning.

A tweet is an online posting, or “micro-blog” created by a Twitter user. The purpose of each tweet is to answer the question, “What are you doing?” However, tweets can contain any information you want to post, such as your plans for the weekend, your thoughts about a TV show, or even notes from a lecture. You can publish a tweet using a computer or a mobile phone. Once published, the tweet will appear on the Twitter home pages of all the users that are following you. Likewise, your Twitter home page will display the most recent tweets of the users that you are following.

Each tweet is limited to 140 characters or less. This limit makes it possible to show several tweets on one page without certain tweets taking up a lot more space than others. However, it also means that tweets must be brief, so you must choose your words wisely. Of course, there is no limit to how many tweets you can post, so if you really have a lot to say, you can publish several tweets in a row. After all, what better way to spend your time than to let the world know that you are at Starbucks, drinking a Frappuccino and reading the latest issue of TIME magazine. That is important information to share with the world.

Tweet

Digital Technology . a very short message posted on the Twitter Web site: the message may include text, keywords, mentions of specific users, links to Web sites, and links to images or videos on a Web site.

verb (used without object)

3.

to make a weak chirping sound.

4.

Digital Technology . to post a message on Twitter: She tweets a lot about movies.

verb (used with object)

5.

Digital Technology . to post (a message) on Twitter for (people) to read: He tweeted his fans after the event.

The Righteous Brothers – Come On Do The Jerk (Shindig 1964)

Background Articles and Videos

DJ Jubilee “Jubilee All”

The Olympics The Hully Gully

The Roaring Twenties – Dancing The Shimmy

Belly Dance How to: Hip Shimmy Move – Belly Dancing – with Neon

Gaga Who? Miley Cyrus Snatches Crown for Queen of Obscene at VMAs

With Lady Gaga set to open the MTV Video Music Awards, the audience braced themselves for a dose of patented Gaga shock treatment. For half a decade plus now, Gaga has served as the reliable producer of those jaw-dropping moments that dominate water cooler talk the next day.

And this year looked to be a return to form. Gaga, looking for a bit of a comeback after some time out of the spotlight, needed to hit the stage hard. Counting on her chatter-generating skills, MTV booked her Ladyship into the lead-off slot. On the red carpet before the show, Gaga was asked how she planned to stun the crowd. The expectations were high.

But after coming out standing in a milk carton, a few retrospective wig changes, smearing some paint on her face, the big moment? A quick spin to flash the singer’s teeny tiny thong.

Just when people began to relax after Gaga’s not-so-weird performance, the real sucker punch of the night came: when the girl who was still a practically a Disney princess while Gaga was rocking a meat dress – Miley Cyrus hit the stage.

Cyrus stepped up and assumed the throne for the strangest, most provocative performer at this year’s VMAs, fitting nicely into the crown for Queen of Obscene, funny hair horns and all.

The singer emerged in a furry gray leotard with the face of a seemingly-intoxicated teddy bear to perform her single “We Can’t Stop.” Following the theme of her music video, she was backed up by a gaggle of dancers with the giant teddy bear backpacks, folks in teddy bear suits, and the World’s Tallest Burlesque Dancer, Amazon Ashley, who stands at 6’7”.

Living up to her reputation for shamelessly working it, she didn’t disappoint as she playfully bounced, popped and thrust through the song that had viewers in a trance.

Once Robin Thicke came out to perform what is probably the song of summer ’13, “Blurred Lines,” Cyrus shed the fun fur to reveal a very Gaga-esque nude vinyl bikini, not much unlike the latex getup Gaga wore at the 2011 Grammys. And she just kept twerking like she copyrighted the move.

“Miley better get a pregnancy test after all that twerkin’, ” joked comedian Kevin Hart during the show. The whole audience may need to as well. The 20-year-old left Gaga in the dust with her gratuitous show of both skin and gesturing this year, blowing up social media with images and commentary on her performance.

After Miley’s dance, we’ll never look at a foam finger the same way again. Prancing about the stage with the prop, the singer made every rude, crude gesture imaginable. Then she took it a step further and made Robin Thicke the victim of some very lewd pokes.

Ultimately, Miley Cyrus has made it clear over and over again that she is all grown up and raising the bar for sexiness and strangeness with every appearance. Could she be the next Lady Gaga? Where do you think she’ll go from here?

Cyrus began to cultivate an adult image and mainstream pop sound with her extended playThe Time of Our Lives (2009). Peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, its track “Party in the U.S.A.” became Cyrus’ highest-peaking single on the chart thus far. Her increasingly maturing image progressed with the release of the film The Last Song and her third album, Can’t Be Tamed in 2010. The latter project featured more prominent dance elements than her earlier releases, and was promoted through sexually-themed performances. In 2011, Cyrus was featured as a teenage rebellion in the drama film LOL, though its limited release failed to make back its budget. She also appeared in the direct-to-video film So Undercover. In 2013, Cyrus signed a recording contract with RCA Records, and announced plans to release her fourth album, Bangerz, later that year. Its lead single, “We Can’t Stop“, was noted for developing an increasingly provocative image, particularly through its accompanying music video.

Since her debut, Cyrus has become one of the most successful artists to originate from Disney. Cyrus ranked number thirteen on Forbes‘ 2010 Celebrity 100.[4] For the 2011 Guinness World Records, she was named the “Most Charted Teenager” following her 29th US Billboard Hot 100 chart entry on November 7, 2009 with “Party in the USA”.[5] She has attained a total of six Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, and had four RIAA certified albums by the age of 18.

Twerking

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Twerking is a dance move that involves a person shaking the hips in an up-and-down bouncing motion, causing the dancer to shake, “wobble” and “jiggle.”[1] To “twerk” means to “dance in a sexually suggestive fashion by twisting the hips.”[2]

Etymology

Ties have been made to many traditional African dances.[3] An example of such traditional dances is Mapouka.

In popular culture

Twerking was introduced into hip-hop culture by way of the New Orleansbounce music scene. In 1993, DJ Jubilee recorded the dance tune “Do The Jubilee All” in which he chanted, “Twerk baby, twerk baby, twerk, twerk, twerk.” The video for the song increased the popularity of twerking. In 1995 New Orleans-based rapper Cheeky Blakk recorded the song “Twerk Something!” a call-and-response dance song dedicated to twerking. In 1997 DJ Jubilee recorded “Get Ready, Ready” in which he encouraged listeners to “Twerk it!”.

A great amount of credit for the expansion of twerking outside of New Orleans can be given to strip clubs in Houston and Atlanta. Twerking was receiving recognition in national releases at least as early as the year 2000, when the Atlanta-based Ying Yang Twins released their debut single “Whistle While You Twurk,” which received national airplay peaking at #17 on the Hip Hop Chart and was further referenced in their 2002 follow-up release, “Say I Yi Yi,” which prominently features the lyrics “She got her hands up on her knees and her elbows on her thighs, she like to twerk and that’s for certain I can tell that she fly.” In 2011 The Twerk Team was mentioned in the song “Round of Applause” by Atlanta-based rapper Waka Flocka Flame featuring Drake, including the line, “Bounce that ass, shake that ass like the Twerk Team”.[3]Bandz A Make Her Dance rapper Juicy J has a lyric, “Start twerking when she hear her song”,[4] while French Montana questions the ability of a girl to twerk by asking, “What you twerkin’ with” in his song “Pop That” featuring Drake, Lil Wayne, and Rick Ross.[5] The song, along with “Express Yourself” by Nicky Da B & Diplo, “Made twerking the most popular dance move since the Dougie“.[6]

ENEMY OF THE STATE… (1998) MUST WATCH..TAKE SERIOUSLY..

Nova: The Spy Factory Full Video

INTERVIEW with NSA WHISTLEBLOWER: Confirm EVERYONE in US is under VIRTUAL SURVEILLANCE since 9/11

He told you so: Bill Binney talks NSA leaks

James Bamford on NSA Leaks – Charlie Rose 06/13/2013

Companies With Ties to Israel Wiretap the U.S. for the NSA

James Bamford: Inside the NSA’s Largest Secret Domestic Spy Center

James Bamford on NSA’s un democratic Surveillance

Enemy of the State

Enemy of the State is a 1998 American action-thriller about a group of rogue NSA agents who kill a US Congressman and try to cover up the murder. It was written by David Marconi, directed by Tony Scott, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. It stars Will Smith and Gene Hackman, with Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet, and Regina King in supporting roles.

The film grossed over $250,000,000 worldwide ($111,549,836 within the US).

Plot

As the U.S. Congress moves to pass new legislation that dramatically expands the surveillance powers of intelligence agencies, Congressman Phil Hammersley (Robards) remains firmly opposed to its passage. To ensure the bill’s passage, National Security Agency official Thomas Reynolds (Voight) kills Hammersley, but he is unaware of a video camera set up by wildlife researcher Daniel Zavitz (Lee) that has captured the entire incident. Zavitz discovers the murder, and alerts an underground journalist, at the same time transferring the video to an innocuous computer disc. Reynolds learns of Zavitz’s footage, and sends a team to recover the video. While fleeing, Zavitz runs into an old college friend, labor lawyer Robert Clayton Dean (Smith). Zavitz secretly passes the computer disc into Dean’s shopping bag without his knowledge. Zavitz flees and is killed when hit by a fire truck. Reynolds soon has the underground journalist killed.

When the NSA discovers that Dean may have the video, a team raids his house and plants surveillance devices. Unable to find the video, the NSA proceeds to falsely incriminate Dean of passing classified information to Rachel Banks (Bonet), a former girlfriend. The subterfuge destroys Dean’s life: he is fired from his job, his bank accounts are frozen, and his wife (King) throws him out of the house. Dean, trailed by the NSA, meets with Banks, who sets up a meeting with “Brill”, one of her secret contacts. After meeting an NSA agent posing as Brill (Byrne), Dean realizes his error, only to have the real Brill, retired NSA agent Edward Lyle (Hackman), ferry him to temporary safety and help rid Dean of most of the tracking devices he is unwittingly carrying. Dean ultimately rids himself of the final device and, fleeing his pursuers, escapes.

With Dean and Lyle in hiding, the NSA agents kill Banks and frame Dean for the murder. Lyle is able to find evidence that the NSA executed Hammersley’s murder, but it is destroyed during an escape from an NSA raid.

It is then revealed that Lyle was an expert in communications for the NSA; he was stationed in Iran before the Iranian Revolution. When the revolution occurred, Lyle made it out of the country, but his partner, Rachel’s father, was killed. Since then he has been in hiding. Lyle tries to coax Dean into trying to run away, but Dean is adamant about clearing his name.

Dean and Lyle blackmail another supporter of the surveillance bill, Congressman Sam Albert (Wilson), by videotaping him having an affair with his aide. Dean and Lyle “hide” bugs that Reynolds had used on Dean in Albert’s room so Albert will find them and have the NSA start an investigation. Lyle also deposits $140,000 into Reynolds’ bank account to make it appear that he is taking bribes.

Lyle contacts Reynolds to tell him he has the video of the Hammersley murder and asks to meet. Dean tells them that the Hammersley murder footage is in the hands of Mafia boss Joey Pintero (Sizemore), whose office is under FBI surveillance. Dean, Reynolds, and the NSA team head into Pintero’s restaurant, precipitating a gunfight that kills the mobsters, Reynolds, and several of his NSA team.

Dean and Lyle escape, with Lyle quickly disappearing from the authorities. The FBI discovers the plot behind the legislation, causing it to fail, though they cover up the NSA’s involvement. Dean is cleared of all charges and is reunited with his wife. Lyle escapes to a tropical location, but sends a “goodbye” message to Dean.

Cast

Will Smith as Robert Clayton Dean

Gene Hackman as Edward “Brill” Lyle

Jon Voight as Thomas Brian Reynolds

Barry Pepper as David Pratt

Regina King as Carla Dean

Ian Hart as John Bingham

Lisa Bonet as Rachel F. Banks

Jascha Washington as Eric Dean

James LeGros as Jerry Miller

Jake Busey as Krug

Scott Caan as Jones

Jamie Kennedy as Jamie Williams

Jason Lee as Daniel Leon Zavitz

Gabriel Byrne as Fake Brill

Stuart Wilson as Congressman Sam Albert

Jack Black as Fiedler

Anna Gunn as Emily Reynolds

Laura Cayouette as Christa Hawkins

Loren Dean as Loren Hicks

Bodhi Elfman as Van

Dan Butler as NSA Director Admiral Shaffer

Seth Green as Selby (uncredited)

Tom Sizemore as Boss Paulie Pintero (uncredited)

Jason Robards as Congressman Phil Hammersley (uncredited)

Philip Baker Hall as Attorney Mark Silverberg (uncredited)

Brian Markinson as Attorney Brian Blake (uncredited)

Larry King as Himself (uncredited)

Ivana Miličević as Ruby’s Sales Clerk

Production

Although the story is set in both Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, most of the filming was done in Baltimore. Location shooting began on a ferry in Fells Point. In mid-January, the company moved to Los Angeles to complete production in April 1998.[3]

Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise were considered for the part that went to Will Smith, who took the role largely because he wanted to work with Gene Hackman and had previously enjoyed working with producer Jerry Bruckheimer on Bad Boys. George Clooney was also considered for a role in the film. Sean Connery was considered for the role that went to Hackman. The film’s crew included a technical surveillance counter-measures consultant who also had a minor role as a spy shop merchant. Hackman had previously acted in a similar thriller about spying and surveillance film, The Conversation (1974).

Reception

Enemy of the State was moderately well received by critics. Rotten Tomatoes presented a 71% “Fresh” rating for the movie, with 57 critics approving of the movie and 24 noting the film as “Rotten;”[4] similar results could be found at the website Metacritic, which displayed a normalized ranking of 67 out of 100 on the basis of the views of 22 critics.[5] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times expressed enjoyment in the movie, noting how its “pizazz [overcame] occasional lapses in moment-to-moment plausibility;”[6] Janet Maslin of the New York Times approved of the film’s action-packed sequences, but cited how it was similar in manner to the rest of the members of “Simpson’s and Bruckheimer’s school of empty but sensation-packed filming.”[7] In a combination of the two’s views, Edvins Beitiks of the San Francisco Examiner praised many of the movie’s development aspects, but criticized the overall concept that drove the film from the beginning — the efficiency of government intelligence — as unrealistic.[8]

According to film critic Kim Newman, Enemy of the State could be construed as a “continuation of The Conversation,” the 1974 psychological thriller that starred Hackman as a paranoid, isolated surveillance expert.[9]

Box office

The film opened at #2, behind The Rugrats Movie, grossing $20,038,573 over its first weekend in 2,393 theatres and averaging about $8,374 per venue.[10][11]

Real life

An episode of PBS’ Nova titled “Spy Factory” reports that the film’s portrayal of the NSA’s capabilities are fiction: although the agency can intercept transmissions, connecting the dots is difficult.[12] However, in 2001, then-NSA director Gen. Michael Hayden, who was appointed to the position during the release of the film, told CNN’s Kyra Philipps that “I made the judgment that we couldn’t survive with the popular impression of this agency being formed by the last Will Smith movie.[13]” James Risen wrote in his 2006 book State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration that Hayden “was appalled” by the film’s depiction of the NSA, and sought to counter it with a PR campaign on behalf of the agency.[14]

In June 2013 the NSA’s PRISM and Boundless Informant programs for domestic and international surveillance were uncovered by the Guardian and Washington Post as the result of information provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. This information revealed much more extensive capabilities than those represented by the film, such as collection of internet browsing, email and telephone data of not only every American, but citizens of other nations as well. The Guardian’s John Patterson opined that Hollywood depictions of NSA surveillance, including Enemy of the State and Echelon Conspiracy, had “softened” up the American public to “the notion that our spending habits, our location, our every movement and conversation, are visible to others whose motives we cannot know.[15]”

Payphone – Walk off the Earth (Explicit Lyrics)

Fairytale of New York – Gianni and Sarah (Walk off the Earth)

Love The Way You Lie – [Walk off the Earth] Eminem Cover

Grenade – [Walk off the Earth] Bruno Mars Cover

Ice Cream – [Walk off the Earth]

Walk Off The Earth – Gang of Rhythm (Bing Lounge)

Walk Off The Earth – Revolutions In My Head (hometown show live @ SOM ’12)

Walk Off The Earth Live NY FULL CONCERT R.E.V.O. Tour / Town Ballroom / 12-07-12 Watch in HD!

Walk off the Earth

Walk off the Earth is a Canadian indie band that formed in 2006 in Burlington, Ontario, and has gained success around the world by making low-budget music videos of covers and originals. The band built its fan base independently with no help from record labels, booking agents, or management. In February 2012, the music industry publication Crazed Hits reported that the band had signed a recording contract with Columbia Records.[1] The band is best known for its covers of popular music on YouTube, making use of uncommon instruments such as the ukulele and the theremin, as well as looping samples. The band’s recorded music and videos are produced by member and multi-instrumentalist, Gianni Luminati Nicassio.

Career

The band’s first success came from covering the songs of The Gregory Brothers. The video of the band’s cover of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” became rapidly popular on YouTube in early 2012, gathering over 127 million views in four months[2] and received positive responses from both Gotye and his co-singer on the song, Kimbra.[3][4] The band has also covered “Someone Like You” by Adele, “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO, “Payphone” by Maroon 5, “Roll Up” by Wiz Khalifa and dozens of other tracks.[5] In December 2012, the band released an original single titled “Gang of Rhythm”.[6] On March 11, RollingStone magazine streamed their unreleased R.E.V.O. LP in its entirety. It received rave reviews from thousands of fans and social bloggers. The full length R.E.V.O. album was released on March 19, 2013.

Members

Sarah Blackwood and Ryan Marshall performing at Walk off the Earth’s hometown performance in Burlington.

Personal life

On 29 January 2013, band members, Gianni and Sarah, spread the news via Youtube that they were expecting a baby together.[7]

Popularity

The Band’s cover of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” – with accompanying video where all five members are shown playing on one guitar – went viral in early 2012, and has so far gained over 147 million hits on YouTube.[8]

Ellen DeGeneres featured the band on her January 23, 2012 show where they played live, again on one guitar.

The band’s cover of Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble” with four of the five members and guest beatboxer KRNFX using only vocals (in the style of a capella) and uploaded to YouTube on January 1 of 2013 has since gone viral.[9]

Awards and nominations

Year

Award ceremony

Award

Result

2013

Juno Awards

Breakthrough Group of the Year

Pending

Video of the Year – Little Boxes

Pending

Discography

Albums

2007: Smooth Like Stone on a Beach

2010: My Rock

2012: R.E.V.O. EP

2012: “Vol.1″

2012: “Vol.2″

2013: R.E.V.O. LP

Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year released and album name

Production

The band’s studio albums “My Rock” and “Smooth Like Stone on a Beach” were both recorded and produced by band member Gianni Luminati Nicassio in his private studio in Burlington, Ontario. In an interview with MTV’s Brenna Ehrlich, Sarah Blackwood mentioned that the band’s upcoming third album is being co-produced by Gianni Luminati and Tawgs Salter.

The prime characteristic of his designs are the rounded, organic forms, which he terms “biodynamic” and claims are ergonomically superior to traditional designs. His “kitchen satellite” from 1969 is the most prominent example of this school of thought. Many of his designs for small appliances are being mass-produced and marketed, but his larger designs have not been built, “a whole host of futuristic concepts that will have us living in pods and driving cars so flat that leg amputation is the only option.”[2]

The earth is round, all the heavenly bodies are round; they all move on round or elliptical orbits. This same image of circular globe-shaped mini worlds orbiting around each other follows us right down to the microcosmos. We are even aroused by round forms in species propagation related eroticism. Why should I join the straying mass who want to make everything angular? I am going to pursue Galileo Galilei’s philosophy: my world is also round. — Luigi Colani[3]

He has received numerous design awards.

Colani currently resides in Karlsruhe, Germany. His son Solon Luigi Lutz also works as a designer. He lives in Berlin, Germany. …”

“…Since ‘40s, Germany-based industrial designer Luigi Colani was engaged in giving a revolutionary meaning to future by offering a curved, streamlined appeal to sedans and trucks, kitchens, spacecraft, furniture, and any sundry thing that he had dreamt of. You may call him a designer, but the title that befits him well is that of a “3-D philosopher,” the one coined by him. Sticking to the concept of round shape of earth and heavenly bodies, Colani wishes to follow Galileo Galilei’s philosophy and declares: “My world is also round.”

“Mum loves me being famous! She is so excited and proud, as she had me so young and couldn’t support me, so I am living her dream, it’s sweeter for both of us. It’s her 40th birthday soon and I’m going to buy her 40 presents.”

She amazed us again….

Adele – Someone Like You

Adele – Turning Tables

Adele- Don’t You Remember

Adele – Someone Like You (Live in Her Home)

Adele – Make You Feel My Love (Live on Letterman)

ADELE – ‘Make You Feel My Love’

Adele – One And Only

Adele – Rumour Has It

ADELE – ‘Cold Shoulder’

Adele – Crazy For You

ADELE – ‘Hometown Glory’

Adele – He won’t go (with lyrics)

Adele – First Love

Adele – Set Fire To The Rain (Live from the Tabernacle, London, 24 January 2011)

Adele – Rolling In The Deep

‘My life is full of drama and I won’t have time to worry about something as petty as what I look like. I don’t like going to the gym.

‘I like eating fine foods and drinking nice wine. Even if I had a really good figure, I don’t think I’d get my t**s and a** out for no one.

‘I love seeing Lady Gaga’s boobs and bum. I love seeing Katy Perry’s boobs and bum. Love it. But that’s not what my music is about. I don’t make music for eyes, I make music for ears.’

Background Articles and Videos

Adele wins a Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance

Adele 21 – Track By Track Interview

Adele — Exclusive WSJ Interview

Adele – Ushi the (complete) interview

Adele – Interview (The Jonathan Ross Show – 3rd September 2011)

ADELE – Live At The Royal Albert Hall DVD (Trailer)

Adele & Amy Winehouse performing @ The BRIT Awards (2008)

Adele (singer)

“…Adele Laurie Blue Adkins[2] (born 5 May 1988), better known mononymously as Adele, is an English recording artist and songwriter. Adele was offered a recording contract from XL Recordings after a friend posted her demonstration on Myspace in 2006. The next year she received the Brit Awards “Critics’ Choice” and won the BBC Sound of 2008. Her debut album, 19 was released in 2008 to much commercial and critical success in the UK. 19 was certified four times platinum in the UK.[3] Her career in the US was boosted by a Saturday Night Live appearance in late 2008. At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Adele received the awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.[4][5] She has also won a total of 8 Grammy Awards and 1 Brit Award.

Adele released her second album, 21 in early 2011.[6][7] The album was well received critically and surpassed the success of her debut commercially.[8]21 has been certified 14 times platinum in the UK;[3] in the US the album held the top position longer than any other album since 1993.[9][10] The success of 21 earned Adele numerous mentions in the Guinness Book Of World Records. The album won the Grammy for Album of the Year. She is the first artist to sell more than 3 million copies of an album in a year in the UK.[11] With her two albums and the first two singles from 21, “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You”, Adele became the first living artist to achieve the feat of two top five hits in both the UK Official Singles Chart and the Official Albums Chart simultaneously since the Beatles in 1964.[12][13] With her third release from the album, “Set Fire to the Rain”, becoming her third number one single in the US, Adele became the first artist in history to lead the Billboard 200 concurrently with three Billboard Hot 100 number ones.[14]21 is the longest running number one album by a female solo artist on the UK Albums Chart[15] and is tied for the longest cumulative stay at number one by a female solo artist as well.[11] In 2011, Billboard named Adele artist of the year.[16]

♫♥Once Before I Go by Peter Allen♫♥

Don Lane – Once Before I Go

An emotional Don Lane singing Peter Allen’s ‘Once Before I Go’ on the final Don Lane Show in 1983. The Don Lane Show ran on Channel 9 from 1975 to 1983 and was and still is the highest rating variety program in Australian television history. This song is a fitting tribute to a man who changed the face of Australian television forever. Rest in peace Don, you are a true legend.

ONCE BEFORE I GO

Peter Allen on the Tonight Show

Patti Labelle – Once Before I Go [Live 80’s]

The Boy from OZ Once Before I Go Hugh Jackman

Once before I go
I want you to know
That I would do it all again
I’m sure I’d make the same mistakes
But I could make it through
The pains and joys and aches
I knew back then
I’d do it all
I’d do it all again

Before I go
I want you to know
That I look back with no regrets
And when our luck was wearing thin
And we were down and out
And still came back to win against all bets
Now when I look back
I still have no regrets

And it’s so hard to say good-byes
When there’s so much that’s left
Unspoken in your eyes
But unless I spread my wings again
I’m afraid I’ll never soar
So hang on to the memories
And hold me close once more

Once more
Just once before I go
I want you to know
That I have loved you all along
And even when we’re far apart
I only need to feel you’re living in my heart
And I’ll be strong
Love you just the way
I’ve loved you all along

And it’s so hard to say good-byes
When there’s so much that’s left
Unspoken in your eyes
But unless I spread my wings again
I’m afraid I’ll never soar
So kiss me for the last time
And hold me close once more

Once more
Just once before I go
I want you to know
That I have loved you all along
And even when we’re far apart
I only need to feel you’re living in my heart
And I’ll be strong

You are the light that shines on me
You always were and you’ll always be
So I had to let you know
Just this once
Just this once
Before I go

Background Articles and Videos

PETER ALLEN YOU AND ME (We Wanted It All)

NBC Tomorrow Show (final show) Peter Allen, Tom Snyder, 12/17/1981

PETER ALLEN Hits Medley + I Could Marry the Rain

Peter Allen

“…Peter Allen (10 February 1944 – 18 June 1992) was an Australian songwriter and entertainer. His songs were made popular by many recording artists, including Elkie Brooks, Melissa Manchester and Olivia Newton-John, with one, Arthur’s Theme, winning an Academy Award in 1981. In addition to recording many albums, he enjoyed a cabaret and concert career, including appearing at Radio City Music Hall riding a camel. His marriage to Liza Minnelli ended in divorce, and his most significant relationship was with Gregory Connell, which lasted 15 years.

Peter Allen was born Peter Richard Woolnough in Tenterfield, New South Wales, Australia. He was the grandson of George Woolnough, whom Allen immortalized in his song “Tenterfield Saddler”. Allen began his performing career with Chris Bell as one of the “Allen Brothers”, who were a popular cabaret and television act in the early 1960s in Australia. Mark Herron, the husband of Judy Garland, discovered Allen while he was performing in Hong Kong. He was invited to return with them to London and the United States, where he performed with Garland.[citation needed]

Career

Allen commenced releasing solo recordings in 1971, but throughout his career achieved greater success through his songs being recorded by others. Allen scored his biggest success with the song “I Honestly Love You” , which he co-wrote with Jeff Barry and which became a major hit in 1974 for Olivia Newton-John. Her single reached number one in the United States and Canada and won two Grammy Awards, for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Newton-John. Allen also co-wrote “Don’t Cry Out Loud”, with Carole Bayer Sager, popularized by Melissa Manchester in 1978, and “I’d Rather Leave While I’m In Love”, also co-written with Bayer Sager and popularized by Rita Coolidge in 1979. One of his signature songs, “I Go to Rio”, co-written with Adrienne Anderson, was popularized in America by the group Pablo Cruise.

In 1976, Allen released an album Taught By Experts, which reached number one in Australia, along with the number one singles “I Go To Rio” and “The More I See You”. Although his recording career in the U.S. never progressed, he performed in Atlantic City and Carnegie Hall. He had three extended sold-out engagements at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, where he became the first male dancer to dance with The Rockettes and rode a camel during “I Go to Rio.”[1] This performance was broadcast live and exclusively on subscription television service WHT The Movie Network.[2]

His most successful album was Bi-Coastal (1980), produced by David Foster and featuring the single “Fly Away,” which, in 1981, became his only U.S. chart single, reaching #55 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Allen co-wrote the song “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Christopher Cross, for the 1981 movie Arthur. The song reached number one in the U.S., and the songwriters won an Academy Award for Best Song. One lyric for the song: “If you get caught between the moon and New York City” was adapted from an earlier song that he and Bayer Sager co-wrote. Allen and Bayer Sager also co-wrote “You and Me (We Wanted It All),” which was recorded by Frank Sinatra. A video of Sinatra singing the song at Carnegie Hall was included as part of the Sinatra: New York package, released in late 2009.

Allen performed on Australian Television at many important occasions: in front of Queen Elizabeth II in 1980 at the Sydney Opera House, before Prince Charles and Princess Diana, once in Melbourne and again in Sydney, at the opening of the Sydney Entertainment Centre, where he unveiled for the first time his Australian “Flag” shirt, and the 1980 Australian Rules Grand Final in Melbourne. His “Up In One Concert” of 1980 was a huge ratings success across the country. When Australia won The America’s Cup, he flew to Perth to sing before an audience of 100,000. In 1988 he opened for Frank Sinatra at Sanctuary Cove, Queensland. In America he appeared at the 30th Anniversary of Disneyland. He returned to recording on Arista with an album entitled “Not the Boy Next Door” (1983). In 1990 he recorded his final album on RCA, Making Every Moment Count, which featured Melissa Manchester and Harry Connick Jr.

One of his songs, I Still Call Australia Home, became popular through its use in television commercials, initially for National Panasonic, and since 1998 for Qantas Airlines.[3] .[4]This has since become an unofficial anthem for Australians abroad.

Broadway

He made his Broadway debut on 12 January 1971, in Soon, a rock opera that opened at the Ritz Theatre and ran for three performances. He starred in his own one-man revue on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre, “Up in One: More Than a Concert” (1979), which ran for 46 performances.[citation needed]

Allen recorded a live album called “Captured Live at Carnegie Hall” where songs from his musical Legs Diamond, were previewed. Legs Diamond opened on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on 26 December 1988, with a book co-written by Harvey Fierstein. The musical ran for 64 performances and 72 previews. After Legs Diamond closed he returned to concert work, touring with Bernadette Peters during the summer of 1989.[5] Peter and Bernadette also performed in the early 1980s on the Academy Award broadcast in an extended musical tribute to Irving Berlin.

Other work

He appeared in a cameo role in the film Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978).

His live version of “Everything Old is New Again” can be heard on the soundtrack to the film All That Jazz (1979).

He appeared in the 1982 television version of The Pirates of Penzance (as the Pirate King).

He appeared as the “man in studio” in the TV series Miami Vice’s second-season premiere episode “The Prodigal Son”.

He also did a pilot for a new Name That Tune show in 1990, and the pilot for what became CBS’s short-lived primetime game show The Hollywood Game. He died the day the series, which ended up being hosted by Bob Goen due to Allen’s illness, debuted. (citation: The Boy From Oz by Stephen MacLean, 1996)

Pronk Pops Show 53, November 9, 2011

Segment 0: Unemployment Rate 9.0 Percent Or Greater For 28 Months and Over 8% For Entire Obama Administration–Only 80,000 New Jobs Created in October, 2011–Never Created 250,000 Permanent Jobs In A Single Month Of Obama Presidency–Videos

Pronk Pops Show 48, October 8, 2011

Segment 0: President Obama In Dallas Tuesday Oct. 4: Collecting Contributions For $1,000,000,000 Propaganda Campaign And Demanding His Jobs Bill Be Passed–More Taxes, More Spending, More Deficits, More Debt, More Unemployment–No Hope, No Change, No Jobs, No Thanks–”How’s That Hopey-Changey Stuff Working Out For Ya?”–Videos

Pronk Pops Show, August 10, 2011

Segment 0: The Warfare and Welfare Economy Worsens With 30 Americans Killed and Over 45 Million Americans On Food Stamps–American People Want A Peace and Prosperity Economy–A Paycheck Not Food Stamps–Stop Out Of Control Spending On Government Interventions Abroad and At Home–Videos

Pronk Pops Show 39, August 3, 2011

Segement 0: Will Tea Party Caucus Vote As A Block Against Democratic and Republican Establishment Compromise Bill On Raising National Debt Ceiling By $900 Billion, Adding Over $7,000 Billion To National Debt In The Next Ten Years Plus A Huge Tax Hike in 2013?–The American People Would Like To Know!–Videos

Segment 1: The Second Obama Recession Starts Or The Great Obama Depression Continues–The Growth Rate of Gross Domestic Product Declines For Four Consecutive Quarters–The Economy Has Peaked And Entered A Period Of Stagflation–Rising Prices, Unemployment And Obama Misery Index!–Ron Paul To The Rescue?–Videos

Pronk Pops Show 38, July 27, 2011

Segment 0: Tea Party Democrats, Republicans, and Independents Betrayed–Tell The Democratic and Republican Establishments To Balance The Budget and Cut The Debt Ceiling–Just Say No To Obama, Reid, Boehner and Ryan Unbalanced Budgets–Videos

Pronk Pops Show 37, July 20, 2011: Segment 1: The American People’s Solution To Economic Stagnation: Increase National Debt Ceiling By $2,000 Billion To $16,300 Billion In Exchange For Passage of A Balanced Budget Amendment And The FairTax Bills And Repealing The Income Tax 16th Amendment To U.S. Constitution–A Balanced, Fair And Transparent Approach To Creating Jobs and Growing A Peace and Prosperity Economy–Videos

Pronk Pops Show 36, July 13, 2011

Segment 0: Lipstick On A Pig–Great Obama Depression– Deeper and Longer–Official U-3 Unemployment Rate Hits 9.2% In June 2011 With 14 Million Unemployed and Total Unemployment Rate U-6 Hits 16.2% With Over 24.8 Million Americans Seeking Full Time Job–Obama Is Not Working–2012–End An Error!–Fire Obama–Videos

Segment 3: Obama’s Gungate: Operation Fast and Furious–Arming Mexican Drug Cartels and Criminals–Killing American and Mexican Citizens–A Pretext For The Ultimate Aim of Disarming The American People and Repealing the Second Amendment–Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, FBI, BATFE, ICE and DEA Coverup and Stonewalling–Call For Special Prosecutor–President Obama and Attorney General Holder Should Be Impeached For Obstruction of Justice–Videos–Updated

Segment 3: Obama’s Marxist Class Warfare On Millionaires and Billionaires–Tax The Job Creators–President’s Unbalanced Budget Would Result In A Big $1,100 Billion Deficit In Fiscal Year 2012–This Is Obama’s So-Called Balanced Approach–Obama Is Not Working–Fire Obama Right Now!–Videos

Segment 1: Is Ron Paul An Isolationist–No–He Is For Free Trade and A Nonterventionist Foreign Policy–Are The NeoCons Warmongers–Yes–Aggressive Interventionist Foreign Policy–Empire or Nation Building!–Videos

Segment 3: Last Dance For Love–Congress Blocks Debt Limit Hike–For Now–Who Is The Political Class Fooling–Bring The Troops and Jobs Home and Send The Bureaucrats and Big Spenders Home–Save Medicare and Social Security–Hot Stuff–Videos

Pronk Pops Show 28, May 18, 2011

Segment 1: Segment 1: Newt Gingrich Running For President As A Big Government Interventionist Republican Progressive aka Green “Compassionate” Conservative?–Favors Individual Health Care Mandates While Attacking Paul Ryan As A Right Wing Radical Social Engineer For Proposing A Premium Support or $15,000 Voucher System To Save Medicare From Bankruptcy!–Videos

Segment 2: Leave It To Beaver–Newt Gingrich–The Beaver Puppet of The Republican Washington D.C. Establishment Political Class With It Social Engineered Warfare and Welfare Economy with A $3,500 Billion Unbalanced Budget For Fiscal Year 2012 with Nearly $1,000 Billion In Deficit Spending!–Videos

Segment 4: Ron Paul Is Running For President of The United States In 2012!–The Third Time Is The Charm–A Man Of Integrity–A Candidate For Peace and Prosperity–Neither A Big Government Warfare Republican Nor A Massive Government Welfare Democrat–A Man Of And For The American People–A Tea Party Patriot–Ron Paul–Videos

Pronk Pops Show 25, April 26, 2011

Segment 0: Eva Cassidy–A Singer’s Singer

Segment 1: Ron Paul Is Running For President of The United States In 2012!–The Third Time Is The Charm–A Man Of Integrity–A Candidate For Peace and Prosperity–Neither A Big Government Warfare Republican Nor A Massive Government Welfare Democrat–A Man Of And For The American People–A Tea Party Patriot–Ron Paul–Videos

Segment 2: President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Speech Of April 13, 2011–Eat The Rich And Killing The American Dream Class Warfare–Cuts National Security Spending and Raise Taxes On The Rich–Produces Massive Deficits, National Debt, and Higher Unemployment For 12 More Years–Progressive Radical Socialist Economic Stagflation–Videos

Pronk Pops Show 23: April 12, 2011

Segment 0: Sidney Lumet–Rest In Peace–Videos

Segment 1: Tea Party Movement Demands Passage of Balanced Budget Amendment and The FairTax As The Price For Raising The National Statutory Debt Limit of $ 14,294,000,000 One Last Time By $1,000,000,000,000!–Videos

Pronk Pops Show 22, April 7, 2011

Segment 1: 3,500,000 Million Americans Unemployed in March 2011 Still Exceeds Great Depression High of 13,000,000 In March 1933–The Obama Depressions Continues–Bureau of Labor Statistics: 8.8% Official Unemployment Rate (U-3) vs. Gallup Unemployment Rate of 10.0%–Nonfarm Payroll Increased By 216,000–The Government Makes The Depression Worse!–Videos

Segment 3: Republican Establishment Will Propose A Ten Year $6,200 Billion Cut In Spending Over Ten Years–The Problem Is It Does Not Balance The Budget For Another Five Years At The Earliest–Tea Party Movement Demands Balanced Budgets Starting In 2012 For The Next Ten Years!–A Jet Plane To Prosperity Not A Path To Prosperity–Videos

Segment 4: Just One More Thing Congressman Ryan: When Does The Republican’s Path To Prosperity Balance The Budget?–The Twelth of Never!–Videos

Pronk Pops: Show 22, April 7, 2011

Segment 0: Glenn Beck Ending His Show At Fox News

Segment 1: 3,500,000 Million Americans Unemployed in March 2011 Still Exceeds Great Depression High of 13,000,000 In March 1933–The Obama Depressions Continues–Bureau of Labor Statistics: 8.8% Official Unemployment Rate (U-3) vs. Gallup Unemployment Rate of 10.0%–Nonfarm Payroll Increased By 216,000–The Government Makes The Depression Worse!–Videos

Segment 3: Republican Establishment Will Propose A Ten Year $6,200 Billion Cut In Spending Over Ten Years–The Problem Is It Does Not Balance The Budget For Another Five Years At The Earliest–Tea Party Movement Demands Balanced Budgets Starting In 2012 For The Next Ten Years!–A Jet Plane To Prosperity Not A Path To Prosperity–Videos

Segment 4: Just One More Thing Congressman Ryan: When Does The Republican’s Path To Prosperity Balance The Budget?–The Twelth of Never!–Videos

Pronk Pops Show 20: March 22, 2011

Segment 1:F-15 Crashes In Libya

Segment 2ne Unconstitutional and Undeclared War Too Many: The Great Pretender, Peace Candidate And Noble Peace Prize Winner, President Barack Obama Undeclared War On Libya’s Muammar Ghaddafi In Defense Of Libyian Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) Rebels Linked To al-Qaeda and The BP Libyian Oil Deal Linked To Obama Campaign Contributions–A Political Payoff!–Obama Has To Go In 2012–Videos

Pronk Pops Show 19: March 8, 2011

Segment 1: The Washington Political Elites of Both Parties Are Not Serious About Balancing The Federal Budget And Funding Entitlement Liabilities–Send In The Clowns–Don’t Bother There Here–Videos

Segment 2, Gallup–U.S. Unemployment Hits 10.3% In February 2011 Vs. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) U.S. Unemployment Rate Declined By .1% To 8.9% in February 2011 With Job Creation of 192,000 In February 2011–Over 13.7 Million Americans Unemployed More Than Worse Month of Great Depression!

For more information and videos related to this show click on links below:

Pronk Pops Show 16: February 15, 2011

Conservative Political Action Conference 2011

President Obama’s Saint Valentine’s Massacre of The American People–Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Buster–Spending $3,729 Billion–Taxes $2,627 Billion–Deficit $1,101 Billion–Dead On Arrival–DOA– 3 Million Tea Party Patriots To March On Washington D.C. On Friday, April 15, 2011 In Protest!

For more information and videos related to this show click on link below:

James Burke : Connections³, Episode 10 : “In Touch” (HQ), 4 of 5

James Burke : Connections³, Episode 10 : “In Touch” (HQ), 5 of 5

James Burke : “Re-Connections”, 1 of 7

James Burke : “Re-Connections”, 2 of 7

James Burke : “Re-Connections”, 3 of 7

James Burke : “Re-Connections”, 4 of 7

James Burke : “Re-Connections”, 5 of 7

James Burke : “Re-Connections”, 6 of 7

James Burke : “Re-Connections”, 7 of 7

Background Articles and Videos

James Burke

“…James Burke (born 22 December 1936) is a British broadcaster, science historian, author and television producer known amongst other things for his documentary television series Connections (1978) and its more philosophical oriented companion production, The Day the Universe Changed (1985), focusing on the history of science and technology leavened with a sense of humour. The Washington Post has called him “one of the most intriguing minds in the Western world”.[1]

Burke was born in Derry, Northern Ireland. He was educated at Maidstone Grammar School and at Jesus College, Oxford, where he gained an M.A. in Middle English.

Later, Burke moved to Italy, where he lectured at universities in Bologna and Urbino as well as at English schools in that country. While in Italy, he was engaged in the creation of an English–Italian dictionary and the publication of an art encyclopedia. In 1966, after a period of broadcasting work, Burke moved to London to join the BBC’s Science and Features Department, where he hosted and co-hosted a number of programmes. He also worked for a while as a teacher of English as a Foreign Language at the Regency Language School in Ramsgate.

Burke first made his name as a reporter on the BBC science series Tomorrow’s World. He was BBC television’s science anchor and chief reporter on the Project Apollo missions, being the main presenter on the BBC’s coverage of the first moon landings in 1969.

Burke co-produced (with Mick Jackson) an acclaimed 10-part documentary series Connections (1978) that was first aired on the BBC and subsequently on PBS channels in the United States. The series traced paths of invention and discovery through their interrelationships in history, with each episode chronicling a particular path, usually in chronological order, and was a great success for Burke, being the most watched PBS series up to that time. It was followed by the 20-part Connections2 (1994, Exec. Prod. Tim Cowling) and then the 10-part Connections3 (1997, Exec. Prod. Michael Latham) series. Later, it was shown in more than 50 countries and appeared in about 350 university and college curricula. Additionally, the book that followed the series was also a best seller on both sides of the Atlantic.

In 1985, Burke co-produced (with Richard Reisz and John Lynch) a 10-part series The Day The Universe Changed (revised in 1995). This series focuses more on the philosophical aspects of scientific change on Western culture. Burke has also been a regular contributor for Scientific American and Time magazines and served as a consultant to the SETI project. He has received the Royal Television Society’s silver and gold medals. In 1998 he was made an honorary fellow of the Society for Technical Communication.[2]

In contrast with the end of Connections, in which Burke worried that computing and communications would increasingly be in the hands of an expert elite, in the closing scenes of The Day the Universe Changed he instead suggested that a forthcoming revolution in communication and computer technology would allow people all over the world to exchange ideas and opinions instantaneously. Popular access to the internet suggests he was correct. …”

KnowledgeWeb

James Burke is the leading figure of the KnowledgeWeb Project. This is the digital incarnation of his books and television programmes, which allows the user to fly through history and create their own connective paths. According to the site, it will eventually have immersive, inhabited virtual reality recreations of historical people and places.

Major television credits

Television series and major single documentaries made by James Burke:

The Burke Special (1972–1976)

The End of the Beginning (1972), marking the end of Project Apollo

Scenario: The Oil Game (1976), crisis game examining OPEC

Scenario: The Peace Game (1977), crisis game examining NATO

Connections (1978)

The Men who Walked on the Moon (1979), 10th anniversary of Apollo 11

The Other Side of the Moon (1979), a more critical look at Apollo

The Real Thing, on various aspects of perception (1980)

The Neuron Suite on the human brain (1982)

MacGillivray Freeman’s Speed (IMAX) (1984), Narrator

The Day the Universe Changed (1985, revised in 1995)

After the Warming (1989), on the greenhouse effect

Masters of Illusion (1993), on Renaissance painting

Connections 2 (1994) (sometimes written Connections²)

Connections 3 (1997) (or Connections³)

Stump the Scientist, in which an audience of children were invited to put questions to a resident panel of scientists in the hope of “stumping” them[citation needed]

Pronk Pops Show 48, October 8, 2011

Segment 0: President Obama In Dallas Tuesday Oct. 4: Collecting Contributions For $1,000,000,000 Propaganda Campaign And Demanding His Jobs Bill Be Passed–More Taxes, More Spending, More Deficits, More Debt, More Unemployment–No Hope, No Change, No Jobs, No Thanks–”How’s That Hopey-Changey Stuff Working Out For Ya?”–Videos

Pronk Pops Show, August 10, 2011

Segment 0: The Warfare and Welfare Economy Worsens With 30 Americans Killed and Over 45 Million Americans On Food Stamps–American People Want A Peace and Prosperity Economy–A Paycheck Not Food Stamps–Stop Out Of Control Spending On Government Interventions Abroad and At Home–Videos

Pronk Pops Show 39, August 3, 2011

Segement 0: Will Tea Party Caucus Vote As A Block Against Democratic and Republican Establishment Compromise Bill On Raising National Debt Ceiling By $900 Billion, Adding Over $7,000 Billion To National Debt In The Next Ten Years Plus A Huge Tax Hike in 2013?–The American People Would Like To Know!–Videos

Segment 1: The Second Obama Recession Starts Or The Great Obama Depression Continues–The Growth Rate of Gross Domestic Product Declines For Four Consecutive Quarters–The Economy Has Peaked And Entered A Period Of Stagflation–Rising Prices, Unemployment And Obama Misery Index!–Ron Paul To The Rescue?–Videos

Pronk Pops Show 38, July 27, 2011

Segment 0: Tea Party Democrats, Republicans, and Independents Betrayed–Tell The Democratic and Republican Establishments To Balance The Budget and Cut The Debt Ceiling–Just Say No To Obama, Reid, Boehner and Ryan Unbalanced Budgets–Videos

Pronk Pops Show 37, July 20, 2011: Segment 1: The American People’s Solution To Economic Stagnation: Increase National Debt Ceiling By $2,000 Billion To $16,300 Billion In Exchange For Passage of A Balanced Budget Amendment And The FairTax Bills And Repealing The Income Tax 16th Amendment To U.S. Constitution–A Balanced, Fair And Transparent Approach To Creating Jobs and Growing A Peace and Prosperity Economy–Videos

Pronk Pops Show 36, July 13, 2011

Segment 0: Lipstick On A Pig–Great Obama Depression– Deeper and Longer–Official U-3 Unemployment Rate Hits 9.2% In June 2011 With 14 Million Unemployed and Total Unemployment Rate U-6 Hits 16.2% With Over 24.8 Million Americans Seeking Full Time Job–Obama Is Not Working–2012–End An Error!–Fire Obama–Videos

Segment 3: Obama’s Gungate: Operation Fast and Furious–Arming Mexican Drug Cartels and Criminals–Killing American and Mexican Citizens–A Pretext For The Ultimate Aim of Disarming The American People and Repealing the Second Amendment–Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, FBI, BATFE, ICE and DEA Coverup and Stonewalling–Call For Special Prosecutor–President Obama and Attorney General Holder Should Be Impeached For Obstruction of Justice–Videos–Updated